If only Venezuelans had the commitment to democracy of Ukrainians…

By Aleksander Boyd

London 27.11.04 | Freezing temperatures have not dented the Ukrainians to go out by the thousands and stand up in protest for what they believe was a rigged election. The hypocritical international community has deemed the election as fraudulent and has had no recourse but to take into consideration the allegations made by opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who is demanding a re-run of last Sunday’s polls. Demanding, that’s right.

Compare that to Venezuela, which has had two rigged elections in the past 3 months. Contrast the climatic conditions of the two countries and further try and correlate the reactions of the common citizens and their political leaders.

To be frank, it was a Ukrainian type of reaction that I was expecting to materialise in Venezuela on August 15 and October 31. Alas no opposition leader demanded a re-run but rather abandoned the fight cowardly and my compatriots, well they are still expecting a miracle, embodied in a Chavez like leader with enough charisma who will muster the widespread anti regime sentiment and take Venezuela forward.